No more Love at ASU for Lisa

Not that the former athletic director didn't have her strengths. They just weren't in the areas her school needed the most. She didn't talk like a football fan. She didn't speak their language. She didn't seem comfortable in front of the media. She hired search firms to find coaching candidates. Fair or otherwise, it created a perception that she was a puppet hire for the school president.

Like most people who lose their job at ASU, Love will be targeted and blamed in the coming days. Some of it will be deserved. Her handling of Dennis Erickson's dismissal - staging interviews in small groups, in a small office - marked the end of her credibility with ASU fans. That was a moment that demanded strong leadership, someone to stand in front of the community, projecting strength and vision.

Then again, maybe she knew her days were numbered.

Either way, this is a good day for ASU. Steve Patterson is smooth, stylish and personable. He'll be part of the Todd Graham renaissance, a head coach who is wowing boosters and fans alike with breathtaking rhetoric. It will be interesting what the new athletic director thinks of Herb Sendek, and if the ASU head coach suddenly becomes more visible in the public.

And don't think for a moment that Greg Byrne's performance in Tucson didn't raise the stakes for everyone, showing Crow what a dynamic athletic director can accomplish with the two revenue-producing sports.